Waterparks are some of the best recreational spaces, especially during summer where people will look for ways to cool off. Unfortunately, accidents can happen in waterparks, and because the season makes people go to waterparks these days, these accidents can be particularly troubling.

According to the website of Brunkenhoefer P.C., those who have been hurt in waterparks may have legal options. That is good to know. But who is liable on waterpark accidents anyway?

Waterpark Owner

There is a legal concept known as premises liability. This makes property owners liable for accidents and injuries that occur in their premises. This, of course, includes waterpark owners.

If the waterpark owner’s action or inaction has caused the dangerous condition that has led to the accident and injury, it may be held accountable, especially if negligence or recklessness has been involved.

Some examples include waterpark owners who have failed to enforce safety rules and regulations, maintain the place to avoid defects and malfunctions, and hire sufficient and competent personnel like lifeguards and security guards.

Waterpark Employee

There are also instances where a waterpark employee is the one at fault, and not the waterpark owner. This is an important distinction in liability. This distinction is characterized by a waterpark employee’s malicious actions, like when the employee intentionally pushes you to make you slip, fall, and break your arm.

Action or inaction that results into the employee’s failure to do its job properly is still often in the scope of the waterpark owner’s responsibility, so you cannot sue a particular employee if it has done a mistake on its job.

Waterpark Customer

It is important to note that, if you have been involved in an accident, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is another person’s fault. There are times where waterpark customers themselves cause accidents, especially on instances where they intentionally do reckless behaviors.

One of the most reckless behaviors a waterpark customer can do is horseplay in slides.

For many centuries until the latter part of the 1900s, two practices became prevalent where child custody was the issue: the Tender Years doctrine and the Maternal Preference doctrine. In both practices custody of the child was always awarded by judges to mothers as judges believed that mothers were naturally more capable of providing the love and attention that children need (it was only through proving that the mother was unfit for the father to be given custodial rights). These doctrines have been abolished, though, and began to be replaced by the “the best interest of the child” doctrine during the last quarter of the 1900s due to the belief that the old practices violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Despite the doctrines’ abolishment and their perceived violation of the equal protection clause, many judges still end up favoring mothers and, so, award to them custody, especially, of young children.

There are courts, however, that decide to award custody to both parents in consideration of the new doctrine and due to the belief that it is very important that a child develops a strong bond with both of his/her parents. However, there is no certainty that joint custody will be the decision a court will make, unless it sees both parents as fit, will contribute well in the child’s development and that the decision will be in the child’s best interests.

Whether sole custody or joint custody, the factors that courts and states believe as important bases when making a decision include:

the amount of involvement each parent has given and can give the child in his/her activities;

the level of relationship between the child and each parent;

the parents’ individual lifestyle, health and financial stability;

factors that can affect a child’s academic performance, such as parental care, availability of parent whenever the child would need his/her time and attention;

the age and gender of the child; and,

the possible physical, emotional and health risks in the environment where each parent lives.

As explained in the website of The Maynard Law Firm, in sole custody or sole managing conservatorship (as it is called in the state of Texas), “Parents who are appointed the sole managing conservator of their children are generally awarded all of the rights, powers, privileges, and duties that are associated with caring for their children. As such, the other parent generally will not be granted many rights, if any, to make decisions about their child’s future.”

With regard to joint custody or Joint Managing conservatorship, however, the firm says, “When agreed to by the parents, or when the Judge determines it is in the best interest of the children, parents who are appointed joint managing conservator of the children generally share the majority of the rights, powers, privileges, and duties that are associated with caring for their children. Many times the children’s domicile will be restricted to a specific geographic area to enable both parents to equally participate in the children’s day-to-day lives. The parent with whom the children reside the majority of the time and who is also awarded the right to determine the primary domicile of the children is sometimes referred to as the primary joint managing conservatorship.”

Whether your divorce case is settled in court or through the privacy afforded by an alternative divorce process, it may be best that you have a knowledgeable child custody lawyer counselling you as this may help you understand your right and make an informed decision that will be for the good of everyone.

Ensuring the future of your family through the drafting of a Will or a Living Trust. The contents of a Will becomes effective upon your death. A Will basically allows you to name your heir/s to whom you wish to bequeath your property; it also lets you appoint an executor or personal representative, whose tasks shall include: the collection and management of all your assets; selling of your real estate or securities, if necessary; payment of your remaining debts; and, the distribution of what remains from your assets (after all debts have been paid) to all your named heirs. While still alive, you as the testator or the person who made the Will, can make changes to it as often as deem necessary. To be able to execute it, it will first need to be filed in the local probate court (in the state where you reside or where the estate you own is situated) and then subjected to probate, the legal process that will prove the validity of your Will.

A Living Trust or an “inter vivos” trust, on the other hand, is a written form of agreement, which specifies the transfer of your properties to a Living Trust. It requires a trustee, a role which you, yourself, can assume; the law, however, also allows a trust company or a bank to assume this role.

A Living Trust manages all transferred properties for the benefit of your heirs named in the trust agreement. You can revoke or amend it, just as you would a Will, any time before your death. But, while a Will may be executed only upon your death, a Living Trust takes effect as soon as you create, and transfer your properties into, it. Its length of effectivity is considerably flexible too since you can specify when exactly you want it to end, like when the beneficiary turns 23 or two years after your death, and so forth.

There are definitely many things that you may want to consider before deciding whether you should prepare a Will or a Living Trust, though. For while Living Trust offers the huge benefit of it being exempt from the probate process, it is still not outrightly recommended to everyone.

There are two types of living trusts recognized by the U.S. government:

Revocable Living Trust is wherein the grantor retains control of his/her assets that have been transferred to the ownership of the trust (since he/she is also the named trustee). As the name suggests, this type of trust may be revoked or changed by the grantor anytime he/she wishes to. Upon the grantor’s death, his/her successor trustee takes charge in the distribution of the properties identified in the document; and,

Irrevocable Living Trust is the type of trust wherein properties are irrevocably and permanently given to beneficiaries even while the grantor is still alive. This rendering these same properties free from the grantor’s interest and control. Extremely wealthy couples (or single parents), who have enough savings to last through a lifetime, are usually the ones opting to create this type of trust. Though they may lose actual ownership of certain properties, these will also be removed from their total estate, thus a smaller estate tax to pay.

Some major advantage of a Living Trust over a Will is that the former avoids probate, saving a family from paying costly property taxes (despite its being more expensive to prepare compared to a Will), automatically names someone who will manage the grantor’s affairs, and maintains privacy, as the distribution of properties will neither be publicly made nor recorded.

According to Tucson business law attorneys, drafting a Living Trust “isn’t always easy to do on your own, but with the help of a qualified legal professional, you can create a well-crafted, comprehensive plan for your future. Furthermore, they can help ensure your rights and interests are protected when dealing with estate matters, such as trust litigation or guardianships.”

Physical abuse is one of the most common forms of abuses being experienced by some of the elderly people in our nursing homes. It is a good thing that it is also the easiest to detect, because its consequences are very obvious.

According to the website of Karlin, Fleisher & Falkenberg, LLC, physical abuse can be subject to legal action. You should always look for the signs to determine if your loved one is being abused in a nursing home, so you can immediately take action and hold the nursing home liable. Sometimes, you just can’t expect your loved one to speak up, maybe because of their physical limitations or fear.

Obvious Physical Effects

The most obvious signs of physical abuse are unexplained injuries. If your loved one has bruises, cuts, fractures, and other unjustifiable injuries, he or she may be experiencing physical abuse. Also watch out for abrasions that look like injuries from rope restraints and the like, because many physical abuse cases involve the excessive use of force in restraining patients.

Though these injuries may seem minor to you, they can be very significant for elderly people because their bodies are much weaker and vulnerable.

Subtle Physical Effects

Aside from unexplained wounds, you should also be aware of other subtler physical traits that may be seen as signs of physical abuse. Some of these traits include malnutrition, dehydration, increased vulnerability to illnesses, and sudden weight loss. These traits are often associated with dizziness, skin dryness, loss of appetite, and low blood pressure.

Emotional and Psychological Effects

Physical abuse does not just affect physical attributes. They can also affect the emotional and psychological being of your loved one. If he or she is acting differently, he or she may be a victim of physical abuse. Some signs are agitation, anxiety, depression, fear of others, and refusal to take medication. These can have negative effects in the health of your loved one.

You loved one does not deserve to be on the mercy of an abusive medical staff. If you think your loved one has been experiencing physical abuse in the nursing home, it is best to remove him or her from the abusive situation. Seek professionals that will help your loved one recover from the physical, emotional, and psychological effects of physical abuse.

Substance abuse, behavioral addictions and even chronic pain are just a few of the many forms of addiction. Each type of addiction is unique and requires a treatment plan that is tailored according to the specific addiction of an individual and the needs that he/she needs.

Rehab facilities may be able to effectively treat addiction to illicit drugs, alcohol and prescription drugs, while other types of treatment facilities offer solutions to behavioral health issues, like eating disorder and different forms of behavioral addictions, such as addiction to gambling, Internet use, shopping, love, sex, work, and shopping.

Addiction most often makes a person dependent on the thing he/she is addicted to. Addiction, it has to be understood, is not developed overnight. An alcoholic, for instance, starts with casual drinking which later on becomes a daily habit. As he/she becomes physically dependent on alcohol, his/her body also becomes used to receiving certain levels of alcohol regularly, so that absence of alcohol intake can upset his/her body’s new balance, resulting in unpleasant (and sometimes) physically dangerous outcomes.

Though withdrawal symptoms may not be comfortable, it is a necessary process in order to rid the body of unhealthy substances; however, in detoxifying the body of alcohol, it may be necessary that it be done in a medically supervised environment to allay the life-threatening effects of withdrawal from alcohol.

In reducing or eliminating any possibility of relapse, or to help a person conquer his/her addiction, as well as addictive behavior, another form of treatment has been made available – one that continues to gain credibility in both the medical and psychiatric communities: Hypnosis or Hypnotherapy.

Since the 1950s, hypnotherapy has helped people stop smoking, drinking and/or use drugs, lose weight, overcome insomnia, improve self-esteem, confidence, relationships and communication, reduce anxiety, depression and fear, and accomplish a hundred other things. By turning to the brain through hypnosis, any addictive urge or bad habit can be turned off and any desire for the positive, developed or improved.

According to the Orlando Hypnosis Clinic stopping addiction to anything requires commitment. Many of those who undergo treatment fail because there is no real resolve in them to change. Equally important besides the commitment, however, is extensive support to patients.